What If Everyone Actually DID Switch to Seventh Generation?

For a bunch of years, we’ve put what we call savings statements on the back of all our products to tell everyone about all the good things they’re doing when they bring our stuff home.

For example, our Bathroom Tissue label says that if every household were to replace just one roll of 500-sheet virgin fiber (i.e., from trees) TP with ours, we’d collectively save an incredible 448,000 trees, over a million cubic feet of landfill space, and 161 million gallons of water. All that from everyone picking up just a single roll.

Of course, not every household in the country has made the switch. But they could. And what if they did? What if together we actually were able to save all those trees and all that trash and all that water?

Which brings us to this new program Amazon.com has started called Green 3. It’s pretty simple. Amazon is asking people to tell them what their favorite three green products are as a way to create the Internet’s first definitive list of what’s best for the world.

That kind of got us thinking. Since Amazon.com is the web’s Wal-Mart (a company we’re not too keen on selling to at this point), making the grade on the Green 3 list could actually be the way we’ve been looking for to create the impact we’ve always wanted to have.

It’s worth a shot. So when you’ve got a second, check out the Green 3 and put in a vote for our 2-Ply Bathroom Tissue. (It’s also worth checking out the other green ideas people have suggested.) Who knows? Maybe we’ll get our best shot yet at making our savings statement dreams a reality.

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alsackey

05/20/08

what jensen said is very true and as some one who is both socially conscious as well as environmentally aware, it poses an issue when the environmentally responsible thing to do is economically in another ballpark.
but as someone who has spent and is currently spending my life on the financial low end (I went in to education), I find there is always a way to save. There are products out there that you can fit into your budjet and there are ways to find the extra thirty cents per roll if you are willing to look.
As a economically challenged consumer you may not always be able to buy all green products all the time, but 1 roll, they say 1 roll will make a difference...not all rolls all the time.
there are always ways to make it work and keep it real.

gizmokid

05/04/08

On the one hand, it is true that Seventh Generation products are more expensive and many consumers do not have the power able to make the green choice when they are buying groceries. On the other hand, if people are willing to spend a little extra on the green choice and cut back somewhere else, it shows a type of consumer commitment that can change the market.
First, more people buying Seventh Generation products and increasing demand can make a statement to other companies that they need to also become green to stay competitive in a market where people are clearly willing to switch. Second, by funding Seventh Generation's infrastructure, buyers can help to create the economies of scale that brings prices down closer to the non-green choices, which in turn leads to more buyers who will be able to switch at the lower prices, and on and on and on.
It's not environmental elitism, it's economics. Not everyone has to switch at the same time - those who care deeply and those with more expendable income switch first, the former group because it is important to them and the latter group because green is "in", and as prices come down and education about our environmental impact rises, more and more people switch to the greener choices, which in turn brings down the prices.
Also, I must take issue with Jensen's idea that products from recycled paper are essentially the same product. Again, I feel that is both right and wrong: right because toilet paper is for the same purpose no matter how it's made, but wrong because non-recycled toilet paper and recycled toilet paper have very different impacts and even different modes of production in their creation.
The very fact that more and more companies tout more and more products as "green" is a sign that companies are recognizing that they need to provide such options to maintain market share. The market is shifting and consumers are making choices to buy more expensive products that are earth-friendly .
And yet it is still true that some people don't know, don't care, or simply wish they could buy green but cannot afford it. So buy the cheap stuff while you're still a student, Jensen, but remember that each choice can make a difference, so eventually, when that paycheck comes in, look to the product with the lowest social cost again. I don't think you'll feel like an elitist spending the extra money.

Jensen

05/04/08

"Of course, not every household in the country has made the switch. But they could."
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I have heard good things coming out of 7th Generation, but the idea that everyone in the U.S. could just choose to switch to 7th Generation reeks of environmental elitism. 7th Gen costs more than most other brands, and a large percentage of consumers just don't have the buying power to be able to make the green decision, especially when it means paying more money for what is essentially the same product.
If I am wrong, please let me know, because then I would buy all 7th Generation. For now, I'm a poor student and am sticking with the cheap stuff.
(p.s. I understand that externalities mean we are passing the cost on the the environment with some of these cheaper products. But that doesn't change the reality that consumers tend to buy what is cheaper right now as long as the quality is high enough)